JP7184992B2 - wire feeder - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to wire feeders and welding systems.

Welding by a welding robot may be performed by repeatedly advancing and retreating a welding wire with respect to a base material at high speed. A welding wire buffer is provided between the first wire feeding section for feeding the wire and the second wire feeding section for advancing and retreating the wire so that the welding wire can be smoothly advanced and retreated. provided (for example, Patent Document 1, etc.).

However, the buffer amount of the welding wire may change by repeatedly advancing and retreating the welding wire. If the buffer amount of the welding wire is insufficient or excessive, the welding wire cannot be advanced and retreated smoothly, resulting in deterioration of welding quality. In some cases, therefore, the wire feeding unit is appropriately driven to adjust the buffer amount of the welding wire to an appropriate value (for example, the median value between the maximum and minimum values of the buffer amount).

JP 2015-058469 A

However, the operator cannot grasp the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount, and cannot confirm whether the adjustment of the buffer amount is performed within an appropriate time.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a wire feeder capable of grasping information regarding adjustment of a buffer amount.

A wire feeding device according to one aspect of the present invention includes a first wire feeding section that feeds a welding wire,
A wire buffer that accommodates the welding wire fed by the first wire feeding section, a second wire feeding section that feeds the welding wire housed in the wire buffer to the welding torch, and the wire buffer accommodates A buffer amount acquisition unit that acquires the buffer amount of the welding wire, a motor that moves the welding wire in at least one of the first wire feed unit and the second wire feed unit, and a motor that drives the wire buffer to accommodate the welding wire. a buffer amount adjusting unit that adjusts the buffer amount of the welding wire being welded; and an output unit that outputs information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount.

According to this aspect, since the wire feeding device outputs the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount to the outside, the operator can grasp the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount, and the adjustment of the buffer amount is appropriately performed. You can check whether or not

In the above aspect, the information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount may include at least one of the amount of deviation of the buffer amount, the direction of deviation, and the adjustment time of the buffer amount.

According to this aspect, the output information includes the buffer amount deviation amount, the deviation direction, or the buffer amount adjustment time. You can get detailed information about the adjustment of

In the above aspect, the output unit may output the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount in association with the information regarding the welding command.

According to this aspect, since it is possible to grasp the deviation amount of the buffer amount for each welding command, for example, the optimum timing for adding a feed command for adjusting the deviation amount of the buffer amount is set. It becomes possible to

In the above aspect, the welding command may be at least one of a welding start command and a welding end command.

According to this aspect, since the deviation amount of the buffer amount at the start of welding is known, for example,
It is possible to find the correlation between the amount of deviation of the buffer amount at the start of welding and the welding quality (for example, arc start performance), and it is possible to improve the welding quality at the start of welding. In addition, since the amount of deviation in the buffer amount at the end of welding is known, for example, the content of the buffer amount adjustment process is set so that the buffer amount is appropriately adjusted between the end of welding and the start of the next welding. becomes possible.

In the above aspect, the output unit may transmit information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount to the server.

According to this aspect, since the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is transmitted to the server, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount can be saved and accumulated in the server.

A welding system according to another aspect of the present invention includes a first wire feeding section that feeds a welding wire,
A wire buffer that accommodates the welding wire fed by the first wire feeding section, a second wire feeding section that feeds the welding wire housed in the wire buffer to the welding torch, and the wire buffer accommodates A buffer amount acquisition unit that acquires the buffer amount of the welding wire, a motor that moves the welding wire in at least one of the first wire feed unit and the second wire feed unit, and a motor that drives the wire buffer to accommodate the welding wire. a wire feeding device having a buffer amount adjusting section for adjusting the buffer amount of the welding wire being welded, an output section for outputting information regarding the buffer amount adjustment, and a receiving section for receiving information regarding the buffer amount adjustment. , and a display unit for displaying information about adjustment of the buffer amount.

According to this aspect, since the wire feeding device outputs the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount to the outside, the operator can grasp the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount, and the adjustment of the buffer amount is appropriately performed. You can check whether or not Further, since the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is also displayed on the operation terminal of the welding robot, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount can be easily confirmed by the operation terminal even if the user is away from the position where the wire feeder is installed. can be done.

The above aspect may further include a server that receives information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount.

According to this aspect, since the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is transmitted to the server, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount can be saved and accumulated in the server.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a wire feeding device capable of grasping information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount.

1 is a block diagram showing a welding system according to an embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the configuration of a wire buffer according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing buffer amount adjustment processing and information output processing by the wire feeding device according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the operation terminal of the welding robot which concerns on embodiment of this invention.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in each figure, the same reference numerals have the same or similar configurations.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a welding system 100 according to this embodiment. Welding system 100 includes wire feeder 10, wire reel 23, welding torch 24, welding wire 22,
An operation terminal 40 , a server 50 and a display 60 are included.

Wire feeding device 10 feeds welding wire 22 wound around wire reel 23 to welding torch 24 .
It is a device that feeds to The wire feeding device 10 is mounted on a welding robot or the like. The wire feeding device 10 has a first wire feeding section 11 , a second wire feeding section 12 , a wire buffer 20 , a buffer amount obtaining section 13 , a buffer amount adjusting section 30 , a calibrating section 31 and an output section 14 .

The first wire feeder 11 feeds the welding wire 22 toward the welding torch 24 . The first wire feeding section 11 has a roller (not shown) for advancing or retreating the welding wire 22 and a motor (not shown) for rotating the roller. When the motor is driven, the roller rotates and the welding wire 22 advances or retreats. Here, advancing the welding wire 22 means that the welding wire 22
moves to the welding torch 24 side, and the retraction of the welding wire 22 means that the welding wire 22
moves to the wire reel 23 side.

The second wire feeder 12 feeds the welding wire 22 toward the welding torch 24 . The second wire feeding section 12, like the first wire feeding section 11, has a roller (not shown) for advancing or retreating the welding wire 22 and a motor (not shown) for rotating the roller. When the motor is driven, the roller rotates and the position of the welding wire 22 advances or retreats.

Wire buffer 20 temporarily stores welding wire 22 fed from first wire feeding section 11 and then feeds welding wire 22 to second wire feeding section 12 . wire buffer 2
The amount of welding wire 22 housed inside 0 (hereinafter referred to as buffer amount) may vary during the welding process. For example, when the amount of welding wire 22 fed in the forward direction by the first wire feeding section 11 is larger than the amount of welding wire 22 fed in the forward direction by the second wire feeding section 12 The amount of buffer increases, and if it is small, the amount of buffer decreases.

The buffer amount acquisition unit 13 acquires the buffer amount and transmits it to the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 . A specific method of acquiring the buffer amount will be described later with reference to FIG.

The buffer amount adjustment unit 30 adjusts the buffer amount. Adjusting the amount of buffer means adjusting the amount of buffer to an appropriate value. Welding by a welding robot or the like is performed by the second wire feeder 1
2 is driven to move the welding wire 22 forward and backward with respect to the base material while repeating it at high speed. At this time, since a portion of the welding wire 22 is accommodated inside the wire buffer 20 as a buffer, the welding wire 22 is smoothly moved forward and backward. However, if the buffer amount is insufficient or too large, the welding wire 22 advances,
The retraction is no longer smooth, and the quality of the weld deteriorates. Therefore, the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 is required to keep the buffer amount at an appropriate value. An appropriate value for the buffer amount is preferably determined in advance as a specified value. The specified value may be, for example, the median value between the maximum and minimum values of the buffer amount, or a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the minimum value of the buffer amount. A specific method for adjusting the buffer amount will be described later with reference to FIG.

The calibration unit 31 calibrates the buffer amount acquisition unit 13 . Calibration of the buffer amount acquisition unit 13 means setting the maximum and minimum values of the buffer amount acquired by the buffer amount acquisition unit 13 .

First, the calibration section 31 drives the motor of at least one of the first wire feeding section 11 and the second wire feeding section 12 to increase the buffer amount. The buffer amount when the stress of the welding wire 22 reaches the threshold value is set to the maximum value. The maximum value of the buffer amount may be set by any method such as measuring the torque of the motor being driven and setting the buffer amount to the maximum value when the torque reaches a threshold value.

Further, the calibrating section 31 drives the motor of at least one of the first wire feeding section 11 and the second wire feeding section 12 to reduce the buffer amount. The buffer amount when the tension of the welding wire 22 reaches the threshold value is set to the minimum value. The minimum value of the buffer amount may be set by any method such as measuring the torque of the motor being driven and setting the buffer amount to the minimum value when the torque reaches the threshold value.

Also, the calibrating unit 31 sets a specified value based on the set maximum and minimum values. As described above, the specified value may be, for example, the median value between the maximum value and the minimum value, or a value obtained by adding a predetermined value to the minimum value. The specified value that has been set is stored in a storage unit (not shown) of the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 and used to adjust the buffer amount.

The output unit 14 acquires information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount from the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 and outputs the information to the outside. The output unit 14 may be composed of a display, a speaker, or the like, and may output information visually or audibly. Further, the output from the output unit 14 includes the operation terminal 40, the server 50
and transmission of information to an external device such as the display 60 . Transmission to the external device may be performed by wired or wireless communication or the like.

The information regarding the buffer amount adjustment includes, for example, the buffer amount shift amount, the shift direction, and the buffer amount adjustment time. The buffer amount deviation amount is the absolute value of the difference between the buffer amount acquired by the buffer amount acquisition unit 13 and the specified value. The direction of deviation is the size of the buffer amount with respect to the specified value. That is, it indicates whether the amount of buffering has deviated from the specified value in the direction of increasing or decreasing. The buffer amount adjustment time is the time required for the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 to adjust the buffer amount.

The operation terminal 40 is a terminal for operating the welding robot. The operator uses the operation terminal 40
can be operated to set the welding conditions to be executed by the welding robot. Operation terminal 4
0 can be, for example, a teach pendant. The operation terminal 40 has a receiver (not shown) and a display. The receiving section receives information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount transmitted from the output section 14 provided in the wire feeding device 10 . The display displays information about the amount of buffer received by the receiver. Since the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is displayed on the display section of the operation terminal 40, the operator can easily grasp the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount from the operation terminal 40 even if the operator is away from the wire feeding device 10. can do.

The server 50 receives the information regarding the buffer size adjustment transmitted from the output unit 14 .
The information about the buffer size received by the server 50 is saved and accumulated within the server 50 .
Information about the amount of buffer accumulated in the server 50 may be used, for example, as learning data for machine learning.

The display 60 receives the information regarding the buffer size adjustment transmitted from the output unit 14 and displays the information. The display 60 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display. The display 60 may be arranged at a position away from the position where the wire feeding device 10 is installed, or may be mounted on the wire feeding device 10 .

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of the wire buffer 20 according to this embodiment. The wire buffer 20 has a case 25 , wire guides 27 and supports 26 .

Case 25 accommodates a portion of welding wire 22 therein. The case 25 has an inlet 25a
and an outlet 25b are formed, and the welding wire 22 fed from the first wire feeding section 11
passes through the inside of the case 25 from the inlet 25a and is discharged to the outside of the case 25 from the outlet 25b.
Welding wire 22 ejected from case 25 is sent to second wire feeding section 12 . note that,
When the second wire feeding section 12 feeds the welding wire 22 in the backward direction, the welding wire 22 enters the inside of the case 25 from the outlet 25b.

The wire guide 27 is a guide through which the welding wire 22 passes. Wire guide 2
7 may be, for example, resin or metal formed in a coil shape, and the shape changes according to the amount of buffer. For example, when the amount of buffer increases, the bend of the wire guide 27 becomes steeper and
27a shown in FIG. On the other hand, when the amount of buffer decreases, the shape of the wire guide 27 approaches a linear shape and becomes a state like 27b shown in FIG.

The support portion 26 supports substantially the center of the wire guide 27 so as to be rotatable with respect to the case 25 .
In the present embodiment, the support portion 26 is formed in a disc shape, and is provided with a hole penetrating in a diametrical direction. A portion of the wire guide 27 passes through the hole. As the buffer amount increases, the support portion 26 rotates counterclockwise in FIG. On the other hand, when the buffer amount decreases, the support portion 26 rotates clockwise in FIG.

An encoder (not shown) is provided inside the support portion 26 . The encoder detects the rotation angle of the support portion 26 . The rotation angle of the support portion 26 changes according to the change in buffer amount. The buffer amount acquisition unit 13 shown in FIG. 1 can acquire the buffer amount from the rotation angle of the support part 26 detected by the encoder.

Acquisition of the buffer amount does not necessarily have to be performed using an encoder that detects the rotation angle. For example, by providing a roller that rotates according to the movement of the welding wire 22 and an encoder that detects the number of rotations of the roller at the inlet 25a and the outlet 25b of the case 25, the robot enters the case 25 from the number of rotations detected by the encoder. Quantity of welding wire 22 and case 25
The amount of welding wire 22 ejected from can be determined. By subtracting the amount of welding wire 22 discharged from case 25 from the amount of welding wire 22 that has entered case 25, the amount of buffer inside case 25 can be obtained.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing buffer amount adjustment processing and information output processing executed by the wire feeding device 10 according to the present embodiment. First, buffer amount adjustment processing will be described with reference to FIG.

The buffer amount acquisition unit 13 acquires the buffer amount (S10). The buffer amount acquisition unit 13
The acquired buffer amount is transmitted to the buffer amount adjustment unit 30 . The buffer amount adjustment unit 30 uses the received buffer amount and a specified value predetermined by the calibration unit 31 to calculate the buffer amount deviation amount and the deviation direction. Specifically, it is calculated by subtracting a specified value from the buffer amount. For example, if the acquired buffer amount is "80" and the specified value is set to "100", subtracting the specified value from the buffer amount results in "-20". i.e.
The amount of deviation is "20", and the direction of deviation is "the direction smaller than the specified value". From the above, it can be seen that the buffer amount is "20" short of the specified value. Note that the method of calculating the amount of deviation and the direction of deviation is not limited to the above-described method.

Next, the buffer amount adjusting unit 30 sets conditions for moving the welding wire 22 based on the calculated shift amount and shift direction of the buffer amount (S12). The conditions for movement are set so that the buffer amount is adjusted to a specified value. In the above example, the buffer amount is insufficient by "20", so the conditions for moving the welding wire 22 are set so as to increase the buffer amount by "20".
Specifically, conditions such as advancing the welding wire 22 by "20" by the first wire feeding unit 11 or retreating the welding wire 22 by "20" by the second wire feeding unit 12 are set. The welding wire 2 is fed by using both the first wire feeding section 11 and the second wire feeding section 12.
You may set conditions for moving 2.

The buffer amount adjusting section 30 moves the welding wire 22 by the first wire feeding section 11 or the second wire feeding section 12 based on the set movement conditions, and adjusts the buffer amount to a specified value (S13). The buffer amount adjustment processing performed by the wire feeding device 10 has been described above.

After the buffer amount adjustment processing is completed, the output unit 14 outputs information regarding the buffer amount adjustment (S14). The output by the output unit 14 may be performed by screen display on a display, audio output by a speaker, or the like. In addition, the output unit 14 may transmit information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount to external devices such as the operation terminal 40 , the server 50 and the display 60 . Of the information related to buffer size adjustment, information that can be obtained before the buffer size adjustment process ends (for example, the buffer size shift amount and the direction of shift) can be obtained without waiting for the buffer size adjustment process to end. may be output by the output unit 14 to .

According to the wire feeding device 10 or the welding system 100 according to this embodiment, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is output to the outside, so that the operator can grasp the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount. In addition, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is transmitted from the operation terminal 4 of the welding robot.
0 or the display 60, it is possible to easily confirm the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount from the operation terminal 40 or the display 60 even if the wire feeder is away from the installation position.

Furthermore, according to the wire feeding device 10 or the welding system 100 according to the present embodiment, the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount is transmitted to the server 50, so that the information can be saved and accumulated in the server 50.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the operation terminal 40 of the welding robot according to this embodiment. The operator can confirm the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount via the operation terminal 40 . Further, the operation terminal 40 may be capable of confirming the welding status, setting welding conditions, and the like. The operation terminal 40 includes a display section 41 and operation buttons 45 .

The display unit 41 displays information 43 regarding the welding process 42 and adjustment of the buffer amount. The display unit 41 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display device. Information displayed on the display unit 41 is not limited to the welding process 42 shown in FIG. may contain.

A welding process 42 is displayed in the upper portion of the display section 41 . Welding by welding robots
It can be divided into multiple welding steps 42 . Welding processes 42 are displayed on the display unit 41 according to the order of execution by the welding robot. AS” and “5.
AS” feeds (slows down) the welding wire 22 to the base metal, and feeds the welding wire 2 to the base metal.
2 are brought into contact to generate an arc. This arc start process is started by issuance of a welding start command that is issued when the robot moves to the welding start position. "2. MOVE" indicates a welding process in which the welding torch is moved while generating an arc. Furthermore, "3. AE" indicates an arc end process in which welding is terminated and anti-stick treatment is performed. This arc end process is started by issuance of a welding end command that is issued when moving to the welding start position. Here, a section from a welding start position where a welding start command is issued to a welding end position where a welding end command is issued is called a welding section. "4. MOVE" moves the welding torch 24 toward the next base material to be welded.
shows a moving step of moving the .

Also, the welding process being executed by the welding robot may be highlighted. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, "5. AS" is highlighted with a double-lined frame, so it can be seen that the welding robot is executing the arc start process. Note that the method of emphasis is arbitrary.

In the lower portion of the display section 41, information 43 regarding adjustment of the buffer amount received from the output section 14 of the wire feeding device 10 is displayed. In the present embodiment, "welding process during adjustment", "shift amount and direction of shift in buffer amount", and "adjustment time" are displayed.

The welding process during adjustment is the welding process that the welding robot was executing when the buffer amount was adjusted. In this embodiment, "4. MOVE" is displayed as shown in FIG. Therefore, it can be seen that the adjustment of the buffer amount was performed when the arc end process was completed and the moving process was being executed by the welding robot.

Further, the display unit 41 displays "-20" as the deviation amount and the deviation direction of the buffer amount. Of the displayed "-20", the absolute value portion "20" indicates the amount of deviation of the buffer amount, and the sign portion "-" indicates the direction of deviation. If the buffer amount is less than the specified value, "-" is displayed, and if it is greater than the specified value, "+" is displayed. That is, since "-20" is displayed in this embodiment, the buffer amount is "20" compared to the specified value.
”It turns out that there are few.

Also, the display unit 41 displays "0.5" as the adjustment time. What is adjustment time?
This is the time required to adjust the buffer amount. That is, in this embodiment, it can be seen that it took "0.5" time to adjust the buffer amount. The adjustment time displayed on the display unit 41 is
It may be only the time during which the welding wire 22 is moved to adjust the buffer amount, or it may be the sum of the time required for acquiring the buffer amount and the time required for moving the welding wire 22. good.

The display mode of various information displayed on the display unit 41 is not limited to the mode shown in FIG. For example, characters such as "insufficient" or "excessive" may be displayed in the direction of deviation of the buffer amount.

The operation button 45 is an input unit that receives input of welding conditions for the welding robot. Input is performed by pressing the operation button 45 . The shape of the physical button 17 is not limited to the shape shown in FIG. 4, and is arbitrary. For example, the shape of the operation button may be circular or the like when viewed from above. The number of operation buttons is also arbitrary. Moreover, the input unit provided in the operation terminal 40 is not limited to the operation button 45, and any input unit such as a touch panel or a dial may be provided.

[Modification]
Note that the output unit 14 may output the information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount in association with the information regarding the welding command. The information about welding commands includes, for example, welding start commands, welding end commands, and the like.

By associating the information related to the adjustment of the buffer amount with the information related to the welding start command, the deviation amount of the buffer amount at the start of each welding can be found. Arc start performance) can be found, and the welding quality at the start of welding can be improved.

In addition, by associating the information on the adjustment of the buffer amount with the information on the welding end command, the deviation amount of the buffer amount at the end of each welding can be found. It is possible to set the content of the buffer amount adjustment process so that the buffer amount is adjusted appropriately. For example, by outputting that the buffer amount is insufficient by "20" at the end of welding in a certain welding section, the welding wire 22 feeding process increases the buffer amount by "20" before the start of the next welding section. It is possible to do

Furthermore, the information regarding the buffer amount adjustment may be output in association with both the information regarding the welding start command and the information regarding the welding end command. For example, by subtracting the buffer amount deviation at the start of welding from the buffer amount deviation at the end of welding, it is possible to grasp the buffer amount deviation that occurred during the welding operation. Further, by subtracting the amount of buffer amount deviation at the start of welding of the next weld section from the amount of deviation of the buffer amount at the end of welding of the weld section, the buffer amount generated when moving between the weld sections It becomes possible to grasp the deviation amount. This makes it possible to detect, for example, excessive tension in the welding wire feed path caused by the welding robot taking an unreasonable posture when moving.

The embodiments described above are for facilitating understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit and interpret the present invention. Each element included in the embodiment and its arrangement, materials, conditions, shape, size, etc. are not limited to those illustrated and can be changed as appropriate. Also, it is possible to partially replace or combine the configurations shown in different embodiments.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10... Wire feeding apparatus, 11... 1st wire feeding part, 12... 2nd wire feeding part, 13... Buffer amount acquisition part, 14... Output part, 17... Physical button, 20... Wire buffer, 22... Welding Wire 23 Wire reel 24 Welding torch 25 Case 25a Entrance 25b
... outlet, 26 ... support section, 27 ... wire guide, 30 ... buffer amount adjustment section, 31 ... calibration section,
40 Operation terminal 41 Display unit 42 Welding process 43 Information 45 Operation button 50
... server, 60 ... display, 100 ... welding system

Claims (4)

a first wire feeding section that feeds welding wire;
a wire buffer that accommodates the welding wire fed by the first wire feeder;
a second wire feeding section that feeds the welding wire housed in the wire buffer to the welding torch;
a buffer amount acquisition unit that acquires a buffer amount of the welding wire accommodated in the wire buffer;
a motor for moving the welding wire in at least one of the first wire feeding section and the second wire feeding section;
a buffer amount adjustment unit that drives the motor and adjusts a buffer amount of the welding wire accommodated in the wire buffer;
an output unit that outputs information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount, including information regarding the welding process that the welding robot was executing when the buffer amount was adjusted by the buffer amount adjusting unit , in association with information regarding the welding command ; A wire feeder comprising: The information regarding the adjustment of the buffer amount includes at least one of the amount of deviation of the buffer amount, the direction of deviation, and the adjustment time of the buffer amount.
A wire feeder according to claim 1. the welding command is at least one of a start welding command and an end welding command;
The wire feeding device according to claim 1 or 2 . The output unit transmits information regarding adjustment of the buffer amount to the server.
A wire feeding device according to any one of claims 1 to 3 .

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